Slipknot

By the time Slipknot stormed the stage at the Palladium on Friday, the sold-out crowd that packed the house had been waiting nearly 45 minutes and was veritably seething with anticipation. The Iowa nine-piece, which has stirred up quite a buzz with its freaky creep show approach to metal, didn't disappoint. Costumed in white coveralls and lurid rubber masks, the group looked like an ungodly cross between Insane Clown Posse and Devo, but the music was distinctive and powerful.

Donald Lukens Disgraced Ohio congressman Former U.S. Rep. Donald "Buz" Lukens of Ohio, 79, once a rising conservative star in state politics before a string of scandals abruptly ended his career, died Saturday of cancer at a Dallas nursing home, his family said. Lukens was convicted in 1989 of paying a 16-year-old Ohio girl for sex. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $500. The scandal cost him the 1990 Republican primary, where he lost to then-state Rep. John Boehner, now the House minority leader in Congress.

Rage comes in many flavors. For Slipknot it's all about cartoon horror, a dark but ultimately safe metal nightmare fantasy. System of a Down digs deeper, matching the same speed and aggression, while exploring complex textures that suggest the musical and thematic scope of a modern Led Zeppelin. Both of these versions of contemporary metal were unfurled at Saturday's Pledge of Allegiance tour stop at the Forum, which also included sets by Rammstein, Mudvayne and No One.

"They said we were an abomination.... Then they said we were done," Slipknot's ghoulish frontman, Corey Taylor, noted midway through his group's clamorous concert Saturday at the Forum. Then the masked metal band plowed into the Grammy-nominated single "Duality" from its latest album, "Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)." The nine-piece band from Des Moines has obviously disproved the doubters of its gimmicky thrash.

"They said we were an abomination.... Then they said we were done," Slipknot's ghoulish frontman, Corey Taylor, noted midway through his group's clamorous concert Saturday at the Forum. Then the masked metal band plowed into the Grammy-nominated single "Duality" from its latest album, "Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)." The nine-piece band from Des Moines has obviously disproved the doubters of its gimmicky thrash.

July 23, 2000 | KASTLE WASERMAN, Kastle Waserman is a Times staff writer

"No jumping into the audience, no setting the stage or anyone on fire." It's sound check at the Hollywood Palladium, and the members of Slipknot are being given a list of do's and don'ts by the ballroom's management. Apparently word has gotten out about Slipknot shows. "The promoters have been talking to each other," says drummer Joey Jordison, who, like his bandmates, has adopted a numerical name (he is #1). "Now every time we roll into town, we get a list of what we can and can't do."

Donald Lukens Disgraced Ohio congressman Former U.S. Rep. Donald "Buz" Lukens of Ohio, 79, once a rising conservative star in state politics before a string of scandals abruptly ended his career, died Saturday of cancer at a Dallas nursing home, his family said. Lukens was convicted in 1989 of paying a 16-year-old Ohio girl for sex. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $500. The scandal cost him the 1990 Republican primary, where he lost to then-state Rep. John Boehner, now the House minority leader in Congress.

* The Pledge of Allegiance tour brings the hard-hitting rock of Slipknot, System of a Down, Rammstein, Mudvayne and No One to the Forum on Sept. 29. Tickets available at 5 p.m. today. Ozomatli performs Sept. 19 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. Tickets go on sale today at noon

Volume matters. Heavy metal is also supposed to be about escape and energetic fun--a place to vent youthful angst, to dance and roar freely. The members of the band Slipknot would seem well-suited to that task with their masks and other cartoonishly macabre props, like KISS and GWAR before them. But they seem like the last ones in on the joke.

Lamb of God, "Redneck" Mastodon, "Colony of Birchmen" Ministry, "Lies, Lies, Lies" Slayer, "Eyes of the Insane" Stone Sour, "30/30 -- 150" Recent years have found the Gramsters evincing telltale signs of having a clue about hard rock and metal -- time was when crushmasters as extreme as Slipknot, as genre-reckless as System of a Down or as religion-averse as Cradle of Filth would've had their tires shot out at the city limits, forget about being nominated or actually winning (Slipknot and

Rage comes in many flavors. For Slipknot it's all about cartoon horror, a dark but ultimately safe metal nightmare fantasy. System of a Down digs deeper, matching the same speed and aggression, while exploring complex textures that suggest the musical and thematic scope of a modern Led Zeppelin. Both of these versions of contemporary metal were unfurled at Saturday's Pledge of Allegiance tour stop at the Forum, which also included sets by Rammstein, Mudvayne and No One.

July 23, 2000 | KASTLE WASERMAN, Kastle Waserman is a Times staff writer

"No jumping into the audience, no setting the stage or anyone on fire." It's sound check at the Hollywood Palladium, and the members of Slipknot are being given a list of do's and don'ts by the ballroom's management. Apparently word has gotten out about Slipknot shows. "The promoters have been talking to each other," says drummer Joey Jordison, who, like his bandmates, has adopted a numerical name (he is #1). "Now every time we roll into town, we get a list of what we can and can't do."

By the time Slipknot stormed the stage at the Palladium on Friday, the sold-out crowd that packed the house had been waiting nearly 45 minutes and was veritably seething with anticipation. The Iowa nine-piece, which has stirred up quite a buzz with its freaky creep show approach to metal, didn't disappoint. Costumed in white coveralls and lurid rubber masks, the group looked like an ungodly cross between Insane Clown Posse and Devo, but the music was distinctive and powerful.

*** Various artists, "Strait Up," Immortal/Virgin. With such peers as Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot all reaching mainstream success, the brash thrash of the Santa Barbara band Snot would have almost certainly ridden the same sonic wave to fame. The group created a buzz with its bawdy performances on the Ozzfest tour and with its Geffen debut album "Get Some" in 1997, but singer Lynn Strait died in a car accident before they could ever realize that potential.